Joy and Abu Ghosh – foody report

I got to the general area of the shuk today, but it wasn’t the mass of people that stalled me — it was the absence of parking.  So I went until I found a place to park easily (I am not great at parallel parking)  which was halfway across town in the German Village.   Stopped in for a late lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Joy, and have to admit I was disappointed. True, lunch 40 minutes before they close for Shabbat, with no one else there, is not the best time to judge a place, nevertheless the mezze (samplers of salads, relishes, olives and pickles)  ranged from bleahh through dull to pretty good (cherry tomatoes and purslane)  and the lamb-stuffed game hen was sadly overdone, which in a bird that size is a sin.  Service was wonderful, and the hot bread was lovely, but if I hadn’t had a couple excellent meals there in the past, I would not be moved to try it again.

Then the only goal was to race back across town to the grocery store near the apartment before it closed for Shabbat… missed it by 2 minutes, so I strolled to the gas station on the corner and got a few (chocolate) things to (chocolate) tide me over.

Jerusalem on Friday is truly remarkable — the morning is rampant chaos, because family and friends from all over gather; the religious who don’t travel on Shabbat come for the Fri-Sat weekend to stay overnight, and older kids frequently get home leave from IDF. The sense of bustle is a little like the day before Thanksgiving, maybe — every week. Clean house, last minute shopping, cook, prepare for a full house.  Then by around 2:30 or 3, traffic starts to drop off, stores and businesses close; by 4 PM buses stop, and the ever-diminishing number of people on the streets are just hurrying to get wherever they’re going before dark.

Then with dusk,  the city enters a period of relative silence, with drastically reduced traffic.  It’s very calm, and a wonderful transformation to witness. (Note to self — arrive on Shabbat next trip.)

I went out to dinner in the nearby Israeli Arab town of Abu Ghosh with Jeff, Evelyn, and some friends of theirs.  The town is booming on Fridays, full of secular Israelis from Jerusalem and Arabs both.  We experimented and ate at Caravan.  Here the mezze ( a sampler costs, but it’s a lot of food) ranged from interesting to excellent, overall a B+ I’d say.  The lamb shishshlak (what we call shish-kebab) was very tasty, and the saffron rice and lentils were a bit parched, but flavored OK. The grilled fish looked and was reported to be good. The baklava was good, not mind-blowing. Overall a C+ or maybe B-.  Good service, all mature Arab-Israeli men, and a family operation.

In the morning I’m driving to a nearby suburb for breakfast with a really interesting Israeli psychologist I met in 2007, and evening will be dinner someplace with Jeff, Evelyn, and a mutual friend and his wife.